While Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley have both released several official statements in recent weeks, it seems to be mainly Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy’s responsibility to answer for the military’s approach to protestors in Washington, D.C. and across the country.
Esper and Milley have made limited public and press appearances since their controversial presence at President Donald Trump’s side in the Rose Garden last Monday. Esper provided a press briefing to reporters in the Pentagon last Wednesday that he abruptly cut off citing a meeting at the White House. And Milley reportedly called somewhere around 20 members of Congress in the days following the “event” at the White House but has not spoken publicly since.
Top US military officer reaches out to Capitol Hill leaders
SECDEF: ‘I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act’
It’s McCarthy who has briefed reporters on continued “civil unrest” operations and McCarthy who will appear before the House Armed Service Committee next week -- despite the committee’s chairman requesting Esper and Milley conduct the briefing.
McCarthy and the Army were certainly at the center of at least one highly controversial aspect of last week’s “civil unrest” operations in the nation’s capital -- the positioning of active-duty troops from Fort Bragg and Fort Drum right across the river from the city. Moving those troops across the D.C. border would have legally meant invoking the Insurrection Act, and McCarthy would have been heavily involved in the decision to do so.
Sec Army on 82nd Deployment: 'If something went bad, we were in a position to act'
But McCarthy has also been asked to provide information on other aspects of the military’s response -- the investigation into the D.C. National Guard’s low-flying helicopter, the D.C. mayor’s request that Guard troops from out-of-state be withdrawn as early as last Thursday, and whether or not Guard troops kneeling with protestors would be reprimanded.
Investigation launched into low-flying helicopters over D.C. protests
Now, it’s McCarthy who will be sent to Capitol Hill to brief members of Congress about what exactly happened with the military’s response to last week’s protests. McCarthy, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville, and District of Columbia National Guard Commander Maj. Gen. William Walker will brief members of the HASC next week -- behind closed doors.
HASC Chairman Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., first called for Esper’s and Milley’s testimony last Tuesday saying he had “serious concerns about using military forces to respond to protesters.”
After reports that Esper and Milley had refused to attend the briefing -- choosing to send this alternative leadership instead -- Smith and 30 other Democratic members of the committee released a statement calling Esper’s and Milley’s lack of attendance “unacceptable.” Since then, the Pentagon has released a statement that Esper and Milley are still “in discussion with the HASC on this request.”
The thousands of Guard troops from other states who deployed to DC are leaving
The close to 4,000 National Guard troops who were deployed to Washington, D.C. last week in “civil unrest” capacities have since all returned to their home states, days after the active-duty forces positioned near the city did the same.
--